cat city: 'a cat thing' module system allows infinite variations for feline friendly living quarters

a cat thing is a series of products made especially for cats and their people. it was founded in 2016 by a young architect couple considering they wanted to build a special house for their cats. together with their cats, chacha and lily, they have conducted a series of research on cat-related product design. their goal is to make creative, stylish, and harmonious design that can fit in a modern living environment.

a cat thing is a series of products made especially for cats and their people

taiwanese based practice a cat thing‘s first series of designs to materialize its concept is ‘room collection’. the designers want to create a joyful space in a small-sized building for cats to play in. in the ‘room collection’ they can jump, hide, rest, crawl through different spaces, and do anything they can think of. inspired by prefab buildings and lego, their latest product is made by four modules defined by their spatial character – room / living room / balcony / ramp. together they can be stacked, transformed, and expanded.

inspired by prefab buildings and lego

this modulation allows complete freedom in creating any kind of micro-building a cat thing can dream of for felines. it is joyful both for cats and their people. the minimalist design with simple geometric form and graphic print makes the ‘room collection’ stylish and it can harmoniously fit in the modern furniture and interior design of our living space.

the minimalist design with simple geometric form and graphic print makes the ‘room collection’ stylish

a cat thing has used the proprieties of paper and the principles of origami to create connections that can hold the different modules together in a safe and secure way without the use of any tools. the designers have also avoided complicated instructions and kept the whole assembly process as easy as possible. on top of that, the modules feature a very high payload, allowing kittens as well as giant cats to run, play and jump as they please.

the principles of origami are used to create connections that can hold the different modules together

sustainability is also an important issue for the taiwanese group’s designs. all products and packages must be recyclable and should be made of non-toxic materials. to be friendly to our planet, a cat thing also strives to minimize material use for its product and package in order to save material and reduce waste. for example, the joints used to fix the modules are designed on the same cardboard as the box to optimize the use of material.

all products must be recyclable and should be made of non-toxic materials

the relationship with cats is a mutual one, so the design for ‘room collection’ should be adjusted to the behavior of the felines. in the future, a cat thing aims to redefine the products we use with our pets daily, looking forward to bringing more style, attitude, quality and sustainability to our products.

a cat thing aims to redefine the products we use with our pets daily

the goal is to make creative, stylish, and harmonious design that can fit in a modern living environment

a joyful space in a small-sized building for cats to play in

‘room collection’ should be adjusted to the behavior of the felines

together the modules can be stacked, transformed, and expanded

the modules feature a very high payload

this modulation allows complete freedom in creating any kind of micro-building

designboom has received this project from our ‘DIY submissions‘ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

edited by: apostolos costarangos | designboom